Livermore School served community for seven decades

By Kenneth Jessen

Posted:
05/09/2013 11:09:15 PM MDT

The Livermore School is to the right of the Livermore Hotel in this historic photograph. The school was destroyed by a flood that came down the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River. (Courtesy of Tom and Kay Quan)

The town of Livermore dates back to the 1860s and was founded by Adolphus Livernash and Stephen Moore. In 1871, a school district was organized, but it took three years before students started attending classes. They began in the Livernash-Moore dugout about one-fourth mile south of Livermore. The dugout had a sod roof, dirt floor, and a single window. School was taught only during the summer these early years due to lack of heat. The total school budget for 1875 was all of $172.15, and a surplus of $12.15 was left over at the end of the school year.

If You Go

School: Livermore School.

Where: This school once stood next to the Livermore Hotel on the north side of the Red Feather Lakes Road and west of U.S. 287 in Larimer County.

Many of the pupils lived in the mountains west of Livermore toward Red Feather Lakes. It was impractical for them to travel down to the school on a daily basis. At the time, the school board was contemplating changing to a normal school year encompassing the winter months and thus making it even more difficult for these students to attend. In June, 1876, the Gordon School was built about eight miles west of Livermore to provide better access to the students living in the mountains.

After two years, the Livermore School was moved from the dugout to the home of Louis Wetzler. There were eight students, and half were Wetzler's children. The parents were required to furnish desks for their children and were given no specific pattern. Each father fashioned a desk after his own ideas or after a design similar to the desk he used when he was a boy. The result was a marvelous variety of desks -- some were large and others small.

In 1878, the school was moved once again from the Wetzler house to a log building. The following year, Louis Wetzler and William Calloway felt that a permanent school house was needed and constructed a 14-foot by 14-foot frame school on Calloway property. This school was located on the bank of the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River. After five years, the student population had outgrown the building. In 1884, a contract for $505 was awarded to construct a 15-foot by 24-foot frame school on one-half acre of donated land immediately across the river from the Calloway school and next to the Livermore Hotel.

Miss Newcomb was the first teacher to use the new school, but she had a great fear of rattlesnakes. Her fears were heightened by the children talking about killing snakes on their way to and from school. The teacher concluded that with this high a population of snakes, she must have an antidote for snake bite venom on hand for the safety of the children. She selected the most popular antidote at the time -- whiskey. Somehow the Police Gazette got hold of this story and told its readers that rattlesnakes were so plentiful in the Livermore area that it was mandatory for the teacher to keep whiskey on hand to preserve the very lives of the pupils. The story wasn't all that bad, but an illustration showed the teacher holding a boy across a desk and forcing whiskey down his throat.

In 1890, the school was enlarged to accommodate 54 pupils. All textbooks and school supplies were provided for the children. The school had 70 feet of blackboard space, an eight-day clock and the beginnings of a small library. Teachers were paid $40 per month and taught an eight to nine month term.

After over seven decades of service, the frame schoolhouse was sold. A new school was built to the west along the Red Feather Lakes road. The old Livermore School stood by the Livermore Hotel for many years before being destroyed by a flood.

Kenneth Jessen has been a Loveland resident since 1965. He is an author of 18 books and more than 1,300 articles. He was an engineer for Hewlett-Packard for 33 years and now works as a full-time author, lecturer and guide.

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